Ruben Kihuen

Rubén Jesús Kihuen Bernal (; born April 25, 1980) is an American politician and former member of the United States House of Representatives for , serving from 2017 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was a member of the Nevada State Senate from 2006 to 2016. He was Nevada's first Latino member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Kihuen described himself as the first "Dreamer" elected to Congress. In December 2017, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Kihuen to resign in response to sexual misconduct allegations against him by a female campaign staff member, as reported by BuzzFeed. He refused to resign but did not run for reelection in 2018.

Early life and education Rubén Jesús Kihuen Bernal was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. His family moved to the United States in 1988. Kihuen's grandfather was an immigrant to Mexico from Lebanon who married a native Mexican. His father Armando Kihuen was a laborer in Orange County, California, before moving to Las Vegas in the 1990s and becoming a middle school science teacher.

Early career In 2002, Kihuen became a deputy field director for the Nevada Democratic Party. Kihuen was unopposed in the general election.

Kihuen served two terms before successfully running in 2010 to the Nevada State Senate after the incumbent was term-limited. During the 76th legislative session in 2011 he was the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Economic Growth and Employment. In the 77th legislative session in 2013, he chaired the Senate Standing Committee on Revenue and Economic Development and served as Majority Whip for the Democrats in the Senate.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2012

In September 2011, Kihuen announced his intention to run to represent Nevada's 1st congressional district but withdrew a month before filing opened in February 2012, allowing former Representative Dina Titus to run without a contested primary.

2016

On March 28, 2015, Kihuen announced he was running for Congress in , seeking to defeat first-term incumbent Republican Cresent Hardy. He defeated seven other candidates in the Democratic primary on June 14, 2016. Kihuen spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the only 2016 House recruit to do so. During the campaign, Kihuen was on leave from his job at the Las Vegas-based public relations firm the Ramirez Group.

Kihuen was criticized early in the campaign for still residing in the 1st district rather than the 4th. While Hardy carried six of the district's seven counties, Kihuen easily defeated Hardy in the district's share of Clark County, winning it by over 24,000 votes. Congressional Progressive Caucus New Democrat Coalition Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

Sexual misconduct allegations

Post–legislative career After leaving Congress, Kihuen became the external relations director for Las Vegas' Immigrant Home Foundation (Fundacion Casa de Los Migrantes). Among his duties was publicizing a COVID-19 vaccination drive among Spanish-speaking immigrants and their families.